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Bench Jigs

In this tutorial I discuss and demonstrate these time-saving, simple to make jigs for the workbench. I designed and created these jigs over a period of a year to aid me when hand planing boards. All of these jigs are designed to plug into a workbench with round dog holes. In the tutorial I show you how to locate and transfer the holes when making the jigs. The typical dog hole diameter of workbenches is 3/4 inch, which is a standard dowel size. This make is easy to acquire the components to be able to create these jigs.

The jigs are quick to install and remove from a typical workbench. The layout of the dowels is such that only one row of holes is necessary. One of the planing stop designs uses a clever arrangement which wraps the jig aroundthe edge of the bench to create a extremely strong and solid connection. Another jig is the bird’s mouth jig which greatly simplifies the process of hand planing the edges of a small to medium board.

The jigs are made completely from wood to reduce the likelihood of damage from accidentally sliding the sole of a hand plane across the top surface of the jig. The thickness of the jigs is also variable and can range from as thin as 1/4 inch up to 3/4 inch. The jigs are also designed to be adjusted higher on the bench when thicker boards are being hand planed. For example a 1/4 inch thick planing stop jig can be raised to accommodate a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick board. Alternatively, you can create more than one of these planing stops to accommodate different thicknesses of boards.

A step by step demonstration of using each of the jigs in provided in the tutorial as well as plans to be able to create these jigs. Once you are familiar with laying out and creating these jigs, you will find it straightforward to create more specialized ones for your own workbench.

Comprehensive information, bench jig plans, 70 pages and over 100 photo sequences on how to create and use these bench jigs. (18) detailed computer designed illustrations (CAD) on how to create these bench jigs are also included when you purchase this tutorial.